The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1887-04-30
THE KANSAS FARMER.

We talked or read, or idly sat beholding,
Betwixt the wire strung poles and April sky,
From dawn till dusk, the endlessly unfolding,
Swift panorama of the land sweep by.
The twilight closed upon a lonesome prairie,
A paling sunset pierced by one faint star
Above a house low browed and solitary
Seen from the windows of our passing car.
For miles there was no other habitation,
Out from neighboring marsh heron took
flight,
Rose, gray and silent as an exhalation.
And grew speck far in the fading light.
Framed by the doorway in the frowning gable,
The figure of a man stood dark and still;
No roof beside, but Just turf-walled stable
Half-thatched with grass, half-sunken in the
hill.
"A solemn mule couched on his bony launches
lank sow leaned and rubbed against her sty /;
No tree but one bare locust, in whose branches
Turkeys were roosting, black against the sky.
The man stood gazing, gaunt of frame and
gloomy;
So melancholy and so motionless,
A sharp compassonating thrill shot through
me,
With thinking of his utter loneliness.
Far from the cheerful light of human faces,
The glow of friendly converse, how could he
Endure u lot as bare of all the graces
As the surrounding hills of house or tree?
He gazed as if with sad surmise and longing
AS thick as sparks above the rushing train,
Toward some great COED which he could never
gain.
The train few on, and snugly housed within it,,
We saw the lonely exile left behind;
But not till that brief vision of a minute
Was photographed forever in the mind.
The train sped on with loud. relentless changing
But gentler fancies in my heart awoke,
AS recalled in the wan twilight hanging
Above his roof, wreath of cottage smoke
Symbol of household cheer the whole world
over!
The dweller with the prairie-dog and gopher,
No doubt has his due portion with the rest.
His evening meal upon the Goals was cooking:
babe, fam would think, made glad the
house;
A wife, I'm sure; but he was anxious, looking
To see his boys come driving home the cows.
No thought had he to join the worlds great
battle.
Or follow in the ranks of wealth and pride
His home, his farm, his own small herd of cattle,
These are his world; he knows no world be-
side.
Though few of life's fair consultations enter
The door, to us so desolate and DIM
That cabin on the prairie is the center
or the round earth and rolling heavens to him.
He too-so fancy runs-has his ambition:
To build barn, renew that two years loan
Improve each day little his condition,
And leave his childrens better than his own
To petty cares, the lack of tools and fences,
10 rams, droughts, weeds, the price of pork
and corn
He gives his years; yet finds its recompenses,
Even in the life we fancy so forlorn.
Man, to the last child, who still amuses
Himself all day with trifes great and small
Cherishes most the few poor toys he uses,
But, given too many, learns to scorn them all
Sweeter than ease, sometimes is rude prva-
ton;
Less tedious than long leisure to live through
Are days full packed with wholesome occupa-
ton:
Too many friends, no better than too few.
How little for our daily need suffices,
Could each but know, contented with his
share!
The frugal dish, which luxury despses,
Is to the humble sweet and wholesome fare
With hope, a constant, cloud-illuming crescent
With love- and work for head or hands, these
three,
Alike the mightiest king or lowliest peasant
Finds life worth living, each in his degree.
Culture and gold are good, but not by building
More stately porches may we look to win
Peace to our dwelling; nor by gayly gliding
The fountain can we raise the flood within.
We ply the fount with toll and rest and revel,
One casts in empires, and one bagatelles;
still happiness in men will seek its level,
AS water from one source in many wells.
j. T. TroWbridge, in ". Y. Independent.